[25967]

National Security: Terrorism
Mr LATHAM (2.05 p.m.) - My question is to the Prime Minister. During the course of last week, was the Prime Minister or his office aware that the Australian Federal Police Commissioner was considering his resignation?

Mr HOWARD-At no time did the commissioner tender his resignation.

Opposition members interjecting-

The SPEAKER-Order! The Prime Minister has the call and he will be heard in silence.

Mr HOWARD-Let me make it very clear that not only is that the case but it certainly would not have been an eventuality that I would have supported or wanted. Now that the Leader of the Opposition has returned to the subject of the Australian Federal Police Commissioner, I have the opportunity of pointing out to the parliament that over the last 24 hours the mantra of the Leader of the Opposition has been that he is the great defender of the office of the Australian Federal Police Commissioner and he is the great defender of that man against unfair attacks.

I wonder what the member for Werriwa had to say a bare 18 or 19 months ago when a combination of Senator Faulkner and Senator Ray launched a most violent attack on the character and the reputation of the Australian Federal Police Commissioner. To give a few examples, Senator Faulkner issued a press statement at that time which said:

[25968]

Further questions have been raised about the quality of evidence provided to parliament by the head of the Australian Federal Police, Commissioner Mick Keelty.

Speaking in the Senate on 26 September 2002, Senator Ray had this to say:

If ever I have seen an evasive witness, it was him at the estimates hearings and at the certain maritime incident inquiry. Why doesn't he front up-

this is Senator Ray talking about the man that you have claimed-

Ms Gillard interjecting-

The SPEAKER-The member for Lalor!

Mr HOWARD-for the last 24 hours that you have been the great defender of.

Ms Gillard interjecting-

The SPEAKER-The member for Lalor is defying the chair.

Mr HOWARD-What this demonstrates is that you do not care about the office-

Ms Vamvakinou interjecting-

The SPEAKER-I warn the member for Calwell!

Mr HOWARD-The Leader of the Opposition does not care about the reputation and the office of the Australian Federal Police Commissioner; he is perfectly happy to stand by and allow his senior colleagues to traduce his reputation under parliamentary privilege.

This is what Senator Ray had to say:

Today I read the tirade-

he called it the tirade-

from the commissioner of police, who cannot understand the subtlety of what Senator Faulkner said-

I have to say that subtlety in Senator Faulkner escapes a great number of us on this side of the House and throughout the Australian community. Senator Ray said:

... he just completely misinterpreted it for his own purposes. If ever I have seen an evasive witness, it was him at the estimates hearings and at the certain maritime incident inquiry. Why doesn't he front up and give straightforward evidence? Why have all these officials got such selective memories or a lack of intellectual rigour that would force them to probe certain issues that they should be pursuing if they hold responsible jobs? I cannot understand that.

The point I simply make is that, for the purposes of this political debate, the Leader of the Opposition parades himself as a defender of the commissioner of the Federal Police, yet 18 months ago, when it suited the political purposes of the Australian Labor Party, he was prepared to remain silent while two of his most senior colleagues abused parliamentary privilege and tried to denigrate the reputation of Mick Keelty. There was nothing said by the Australian Labor Party then. What did he have to say by way of rebuke-

Opposition members interjecting-

The SPEAKER-The Prime Minister will resume his seat. The member for Denison has already been required to excuse himself from the House; next time I will not be as generous. The Prime Minister has the call. He will be heard in silence.

Mr HOWARD-On 25 September 2002, during the adjournment debate, this is what Senator Faulkner had to say. To my knowledge it remained unrebuked by any senior member of the Australian Labor Party, by the then Leader of the Opposition, by the member for Werriwa or indeed by anybody else. This is what he had to say, and I invite the House to listen to this very carefully. He said, in part:

I intend to keep asking questions until I find out. And, Mr Acting Deputy President, I intend to keep pressing for an independent judicial inquiry into these very serious matters. At no stage do I want to break, nor will I break, the protocols in relation to operational matters involving ASIS or the AFP.

And here is the punchline-

But those protocols-

Mr Tanner interjecting-

The SPEAKER-Order. The member for Melbourne is warned!

Mr HOWARD-Senator Faulkner went on to say this:

But those protocols were not meant as a direct or an indirect licence to kill.

That was the language that was used by Senator Faulkner: `a direct or an indirect licence to kill'. I do not recall the member for the Werriwa or the then Leader of the Opposition rushing to the defence of the Australian Federal Police Commissioner, demanding that those unfair allegations against the character of the Australian Federal Police Commissioner should be withdrawn. And, as a consequence of those attacks, the Australian Federal Police Commissioner issued a statement which in part said as follows:

Therefore, Senator Faulkner could have clarified his position before embarking any further on his allegations. Instead, he has chosen to sully the reputation of the AFP, and myself as the Commissioner, instead of availing himself of the facts.

That came from a senior figure in the Australian Labor Party. Those remarks were left unrebuked by anybody in the Labor Party, and they destroyed any capacity of the Leader of the Opposition to parade himself as a friend and defender of the Australian Federal Police.

[snip]

[25969]

National Security: Terrorism
Mr LATHAM (2.19 p.m.)-My question is to the Prime Minister. I refer to his earlier answer, when he said that Mr Keelty had not actually resigned. I ask: during the course of last week was the Prime Minister or his office aware that Commissioner Keelty was considering his resignation? What communication did the Prime Minister or his office receive on this matter?

[25970]

Mr HOWARD-I have already indicated two things and I will not be adding to them. The first is that he did not offer his resignation, and the second is that, in accordance with longstanding practice of governments of different persuasions and at various levels in Australia, discussions in communications between senior ministers and senior officials are in fact confidential and I have no intention of breaking that confidentiality. The latest bit of field evidence that that is a bipartisan view is contained in a report in the West Australian of 12 March 2004 referring to a well-known argument between the Western Australian Police Commissioner and the police minister, Michelle Roberts. When there was a furious conversation between the Premier of Western Australia and the commissioner:

Dr Gallop yesterday refused to deny the telephone row took place. A spokesman for the Premier said he regarded any conversation with the Police Commissioner as confidential.

[snip]

[25971]

National Security: Terrorism
Mr RUDD (2.26 p.m.)-My question is to the Minister for Foreign Affairs. I refer to his statement on 16 March in which he said that the Australian Federal Police Commissioner was `expressing a view which reflects a lot of the propaganda we're getting from alQaeda'. Can the minister say whether he has privately apologised to the AFP commissioner for this remark and will the minister now publicly apologise?

Mr DOWNER-First of all, in answer to the honourable member's question, I am waiting for Senator Faulkner's apology to the commissioner. We look forward to hearing that. I hope the Leader of the Opposition will remain calm throughout question time today - Hawker Britton have no doubt been on the phone. I hope that the member for Griffith will take that question up with Senator Faulkner in relation to his remarks about the Police Commissioner.

Secondly, I have certainly had discussions with the Federal Police Commissioner, and he clearly understands the broad point I was making about al-Qaeda.

I make a further comment: if you read the whole of the interview, you will see it is perfectly clear the point I am making. The point I am making is that al-Qaeda, as an organisation, is out there running a line about Iraq, as it did once about East Timor and still does from time to time-and it runs lines about other issues such as the Palestinian-Israeli dispute-but, at heart, what alQaeda is basically about is the destruction of moderate Islamic governments and the replacement of those governments with Taliban style extremist regimes. That is what they are ultimately about. That is the point I was making, and the commissioner perfectly well understood that. If you read the full transcript, that is perfectly clear.

I think it is preposterous for the opposition on the one hand to ignore completely what Senator Faulkner has said about the Police Commissioner for their own convenience and on the other hand to try to interpret what I have said as though I am suggesting that Mr Keelty is part of al-Qaeda or is supporting al-Qaeda.

Mr Keelty knows only too well, as do I - as does anyone with any commonsense-that that is a simply preposterous and outrageous interpretation of what I said.

I can only reinforce the view that Mr Keelty and I have done a tremendous amount of good work together over the last few years. Oh, no, you have never asked any questions about the Solomon Islands and the work we have been doing together there! Oh, no, you never bother to ask a question about the work we have been doing in Indonesia to counter terrorism, because it does not suit your narrow party political game playing!

The SPEAKER-Order! The minister will address his remarks through the chair.

Mr Wilkie interjecting-

Mr DOWNER-Oh, no, it does not suit their narrow party political game playing.

The SPEAKER-The member for Swan is warned!

Mr DOWNER-And that is what all this is about.

On the one hand, the opposition says that the government has somehow politically interfered with the Commissioner of Police and, on the other hand, it is determined to play politics with this issue for as long as it can. The member for Griffith's question simply reinforces that point.